Group    From 1810 

Heal's furniture store

John Harris Heal established a feather dressing business at 33 Rathbone Place, moving to Tottenham Court Road in 1818. This became a family business selling beds and moved to larger premises in the same street at numbers 193-9, previously Millers Stables, with Cappers Farm behind where the family lived. This is the site now occupied by the middle part of the current Heal's complex. 1854 these premises were reconstructed as a purpose-built shop designed by James Morant Lockyer (see picture). Ambrose Heal junior joined the firm in 1893 as a furniture designer and went on to run the company very successfully. In 1983 the business was sold to Terence Conran.

The two plaques refer to two developments the first (1917) of which replaced the 1854 building. The main Tottenham Court Road elevation looks like two buildings - Heal's to the south, and Habitat to the north - but it was erected in 3 phases. The north half (5 bays) of the southern building is 1914-17 by Cecil C. Brewer and A. Dunbar Smith. This replaced the 1854 building in the photo. The southern equal-sized extension with a near-identical facade is 1936-8 by Edward Maufe. The northern Habitat building (8 bays), complementary in design, is 1961-2 by Fitzroy Robinson and Partners. It was this last building that required the demolition of the Apollo Inn.

Londonist's 7 Secrets Of Heal's Furniture Store is worth a read.

This section lists the memorials where the subject on this page is commemorated:
Heal's furniture store

Commemorated ati

Heals - north

On the north-most pier of the southern building.

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Heals - south

This plaque is on the last but one southern pier of the southern building. 

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Other Subjects

Sir Ambrose Heal

Sir Ambrose Heal

Furniture designer and retailer. Born at Crouch End. Studied at the Slade School of Fine Art before joining the family firm which ran the Heal & Son department store. He designed the simple, st...

Person, Commerce, Craft / Design

3 memorials
Metropolitan Works

Metropolitan Works

From their website: "Metropolitan Works – now part of CassWorks – is London’s leading Creative Industries Centre, helping students, designers and manufacturers develop ideas...."

Group, Craft / Design

1 memorial
Bayford

Bayford

Shoemaker and antiquarian.

Person, Craft / Design

1 memorial
John Meard Junior

John Meard Junior

Apprenticed to his father in August 1700 – ‘John Meard Citizen and Turner... his father and Master admitted to this Freedom’ (Freedom Admissions Register of the Turners’ Company). On his father’s ...

Person, Architecture, Craft / Design, Property

1 memorial
Joy Sturgess

Joy Sturgess

Mosaic artist active in 2012.

Person, Craft / Design

1 memorial